questions about using an old parlor stove

echos67 wrote:

SteveZee wrote:I'd like to add that the Happy Thoughts grates look to be in fine shape and are better suited for coal than the cabinet Sterling which look a bit like wood grates to me or combo wood/coal.

You would need to get some refractory lining in both stoves if you were to burn coal. Me, I like the Happy Thoughts Great name for stove! It will certainly do a fine job heating that space if it has a 15" pot. If that's measured at the bottom then it probably a 16" and the same size as the Glenwood in my avatar. I heat 2500sqft of a 226yr old house on the Maine coast with my Glenwood aided by another Glenwood cookstove in the kitchen during the coldest times. These two use about 6 tons of coal a year between them and I have only used maybe 50 gal of oil at most when I was traveling for 10 days. My steam boiler is just my backup.

I think this post would be so much better if it had pictures showing the stove and cook stove you refer to .
(I never get tired of seeing your cook stove and mo116)

Yeah I almost did post em again!

Why not. The Glenwood Modern Oak is a beautiful stove. It looks so at home in the spot you put it in.

Here we go then, you guys talked me into it! By the way, the 116 is running at 500 right now catching up from last nights low setting of 300, (outside it's 18 wind chill of 9) and the stack temp is 175. I'll take that all day long. The range is at a stately 300 and the old house is 73. Gonna be a cold one tonight around 5 they are saying. Bring it on I say!

Those stoves are beautiful, Steve! Thanks so much for sharing them.

Happy Thought is a great name and I love that the stove was made in our home town when it was in its hey day.

We are still looking around locally, thinking about the Sterling, etc. but also hoping to see the Happy Thought the weekend after Christmas. I asked the seller if she had more pics and will post them if and when I get them.

You are quite welcome Barbera. Any excuse to show off my stoves is good, just ask these guys! As I type this it is 13 degrees outside on the Maine coast. Those two 100+ year old stoves have this 226yr old house of mine very comfortable and believe me, it's not the best insulated by a long shot. I shook and filled them both right after the Pat's game (Bummer they lost to San Fran but great game) and they will both be ripping along tomorrow morning when I mosey dowstairs to make coffee. The feeling of waking up to a warm house and kitchen on the coast of Maine in dead of winter (and knowing I used no oil)?..........Priceless!

Just wanted to update everyone on the stove hunt. We have seen a few local stoves in rough shape and I appreciated the advice from here on what to look for.

We also saw the Sterling. It is a nice stove and seems to be in good condition and we are considering it. I noticed that when it is cranked the grates turn over or flip. In one position they provide a flat surface. In the other, an open grate. I was wondering if this is just to shake the coal or if it allows for burning coal or wood (in the different positions). Also if this type of a mechanism is likely to break and if it is fixable if that happens.

We are going to see the Happy Thought tomorrow. I was looking at the picture of the grates in this stove this morning and I'm curious about them being stationary in regard to the ashes. I'm guessing the ashes just fall into the pan area (no actual pan present now). I'm not sure if this stove can burn coal and wood or only coal.

I'm posting a picture of the grates again. To me they look pretty worn down (especially when the pics enlarged) but neither of the stove restoration people I contacted said that this was issue. I know I posted this pic before but wanted to ask specifically if this kind of wear looks to be an issue.

I will update again after we see the Happy Thought.

Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays!

Barbara

Those are the triangular (prismatic) style grates, they have three sides so you can rotate them to extend the life before they need replacing. The ones in the picture look pretty worn and I would replace them. When you shake the ash down you just rotate the grates a few degrees back and forth a few times and your done when the ash is glowing, it doesn't take long at all.

I just bought a set of 4 grates with gears this year for my No 6 from Doug at Barnstable but not sure if those and the 6 are interchangeable (the 6 gears are not interchangeable with the MO 116) so you may want to measure those and make sure replacements are available. If you have to send those off for another set to be cast you will have to build them up first with bondo or similar so the new casting is correct.

sorry ws, I love the older stoves but as far as simplicity & efficiency, I'll stick with my Hitzer 50-93, yet I would not say it is betterer or worseser then the old parlor one's. Just saying

There are great old stoves and some are junk but some are really cute and efficient. Then there are some great newer stoves too that are not nearly as cute but I can pick up the phone get and parts and that is a powerful motivator. I think the efficiency is very close whatever is said here. So I've been pondering this and decided the only solution is to buy one of each and don't pay your taxes. You can't have too many coal stoves.

Thanks Keith. I just heard back from Emery at the Stove Hospital and he recommends recasting. No idea what the cost is on that but glad to hear its doable.

Had to laugh about the two stove comment. We were actually thinking about doing that

SteveZee wrote:I'd like to add that the Happy Thoughts grates look to be in fine shape and are better suited for coal than the cabinet Sterling which look a bit like wood grates to me or combo wood/coal.

You would need to get some refractory lining in both stoves if you were to burn coal. Me, I like the Happy Thoughts Great name for stove! It will certainly do a fine job heating that space if it has a 15" pot. If that's measured at the bottom then it probably a 16" and the same size as the Glenwood in my avatar. I heat 2500sqft of a 226yr old house on the Maine coast with my Glenwood aided by another Glenwood cookstove in the kitchen during the coldest times. These two use about 6 tons of coal a year between them and I have only used maybe 50 gal of oil at most when I was traveling for 10 days. My steam boiler is just my backup.

Steve, those are Bituminous grates. We don't see them in our neck of the woods too often. Bituminous burns down to a fine powdery ash, much finer than Anthracite, they don't need to be as violent when shaking to clean the fire. And yes, you are right as well, you can burn wood on the flat surfaces.

Ok....christmas is over let's get movin' I demand to see a new stove fired up pronto, quit typing and start heating

I have to say there is a lot of theoretical analysis on here... from having 8 CO detectors, to the best type of coal (don;t even get me started on the frickin' baro...), to yada yada yada. All I did was watch WS's cool videos, buy a No. 6., scrounge some unwanted coal, light her up, and never look back...

lobsterman wrote:I have to say there is a lot of theoretical analysis on here... from having 8 CO detectors, to the best type of coal (don;t even get me started on the frickin' baro...), to yada yada yada. All I did was watch WS's cool videos, buy a No. 6., scrounge some unwanted coal, light her up, and never look back...

Yep something about that series of vid's William did has made converts out of a whole bunch of folks! Especially those of us with old houses.

Thanks again for all the info. Looking at two stove today including the Pittston stove. Wanted to post some pics of a third which one family member likes a lot. Not sure I do.

If anyone knows anything about this stove, please let me know. I'm not sure I understand how the grates work or if it is designed for anthracite coal or not.

Thanks again!
Barbara

Two more pics. Stove has a 10" firebox. Floor to top it is 44" high. Flue opening is 4 1/4 by 5 1/2. Thanks for any info anyone might have on this.

We will probably make a decision this weekend. But factoring rebuilds and chimney building I'm pretty sure nothing will actually be fired up for some time